wallpaste

we finally got some photos printed today, and

started filling in the empty frames that
have been hanging on our wall for over a month.
we also brought out the christmas trinkets,
something about christmas decorations didn't fit
my taste for a while but this year, john, ex-mr. scrooge,
and i both feel quite festive. we're gonna try to
transform our place tonight*

weekend fullness

what a weekend,
we went to go see quantum of solace friday after work.
we had an hour and a half gap of time
before the movie started to sit over mochas at starbucks
i love their christmas bulb wreathes.
we sat there and got inspired with juicy ideas for christmas gifts and more.
it's a secret till some fruit shows...

then on saturday
we went with my mom and brother, (my dad's in india for a week)
to see my very tall cousin get married.
it was at a church so it was a slight change from
the wedding hall weddings, i was glad to be there.
then in our dress clothes, the boys in their suits,
we marched into costco,
after 3 hours of brutal traffic,
with the herd of seoulians all
driving bulk carts through the warehouse aisles,
we said, 'never again on a weekend!' but now
we've stocked up, tortillas, granola bars,
kashi cereal, candy canes for our students,
chicken breasts, ground australian beef,
a poo-brown fleece overthrow,
and a whole lot more.
then with our rare pack of guinness and pizza from costco,
we invited yong jun to come over
and he slept over in our living room,
and we watched enchanted, the fairy tale.

sunday, church, learned about work in north korea,
launched the orphanage christmas gift fundraiser.
ate some leftover costco pizza for lunch and then
we were shuffling on the volleyball courts with friends
from church. so fun! wish we had a league for volleyball, i miss
playing, i know john would love to be in a basketball league or something
competitive.
then we made our way over to some smoothies with
dan and carrie,
and headed home, zonked tired from a
full weekend.

totally unrelated: i love being married to 존** love of my life.

flowery attempt

i had my students try to flower up some nouns today.

.their compilation:

the snow today=like an angel came and scattered cotton
kevin's eyes=like thread
alex's eyes=like kevin's eyes
water=as transparent as air
clock=like math
clock=clock always works. i want to study hard like clock.
map=lines on my palm

ok.

first snow

snow. we were going to run to the ymca this morning to
workout, i miss sweat and exercise.
but i was lazy, mornings are not good for me,
i'm not a morning person these days
john's at work now, so he'll go to the gym after work,
i'm inside, kind of wanting to be outside in the
snow.
but i hate the cold. so instead, i'm staying inside:
1. taebo, pilates
2. clean wash scrub
3. cook chicken and rice for dinner
(man, when did i get so domestic?)
4. draw
5. email
6. prep for work
7. work, teach, try to love the kids
8. home to john.
and meanwhile, it's our first snow of the year, and i'm not all that jazzed.
i just want to bundle up and read.
but i'll probably do all of the above instead.

big pot.

i'm eating ivy crackers and persimmon, something to tide me over till
we eat dinner tonight at 10. sprawled, bad posture,
on our hand-me-down couch. home from a day at mosaic.
every wednesday, i go to this cafe and play
coffeemaker.
today was full of dishes and hot lattes to ward off
the frigid weather outside. busy, for customers, mostly friends.
and i got to blend a bit with
a group of girls that came in. stephanie,
stopping in from the states on her way to england, said some
words. future. ambition. letting go of control. faith. let God control. leap. all within
context, those words were bread for me today. especially after the droplets john had to wipe off my cheeks last night, in conversing about taking leaps, now, or in the future. faith.
it's a hard thing sometimes. but it's what keeps us
moving. like cameras.
growing. like my tree.
meanwhile, my husband,
i could sneak peeks at him, sitting behind the conference room glass, soaking in some
discussion with the men. he loves wednesdays for that, i'm glad.
it was a full day, wednesday.
and not yet over as i head now to erc, my hakwon, to
teach some kids the life that's inside a book.
and then
i return home to my loving husband,
back on our weathered couch.
to eat crackers again, snuggle,
or maybe i'll have a slice of energy to cook
up something more
substantive. i love
life right now, because it feels
like a big pot of soup, eclectic and
boiling, hot for someone.

blog aspirations are real.

well, for a while, i've been meaning to plop out
an entry. but i'm not much of a blogger. i tried
a while back. but i get fidgety, i change, and get
distracted by other endeavors,
so then i forget i ever had a blog. but lately
i've been reading my dear friend, katie's,
and though a blog is
only partial and weird in communication
between friends, it's something.
and it's a form of creativity.

carrie buller shared this website with me,
www.illustrationfriday.com.
ooo, inspired i am, to try my
hands in a weekly sharing of
topic-based art! i think i'll use
this space for posting my art.

so here i go. i, is soyon.
i'll try to get john to blog now and then
but he also quit blogging last year:).

watch, i'll probably write two or three
entries today. then one or two
tomorrow.
one the next. and then after that,
once or twice every month, maybe less.
in any case, come by if you're bored.
and nose into our place.

all are welcome.

garden engagement shoot

click to see more photos:Hanbok of the Morning Calm, by Dana Sikkens

photographer and friend, dana sikkens, and her
husband, chris, the champion of all
trades, a human tripod on that day,
the couple, skilled and pleasant
in the art of photography, gifted us with the above
series of engagement photos. it was a luminous,
sweaty, and memorizing day.
thank you, dana and chris sikkens.

~soyon and john.